Buckley et al. v. Valeo, Secretary of the United States Senate, et al.

Decided January 30, 1976. The Court ruled per curiam — an unsigned opinion of the Court.

Docket 75-436 · 424 U.S. 1 (1976) · Cited 4,982 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–1.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Humphrey's v. United States · 295 U.S. 602 (1935)
• Myers v. United States · 272 U.S. 52 (1926)
• Jenness v. Fortson · 403 U.S. 431 (1971)
• United States v. O'Brien · 391 U.S. 367 (1968)
• Burroughs and Cannon v. United States · 290 U.S. 534 (1934)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• Mills v. Alabama · 384 U.S. 214 (1966)
• Storer v. Brown · 415 U.S. 724 (1974)
• Kovacs v. Cooper · 336 U.S. 77 (1949)
• Bates v. City of Little Rock · 361 U.S. 516 (1960)
• Lubin v. Panish · 415 U.S. 709 (1974)
• Thomas v. Collins · 323 U.S. 516 (1945)
• United States Civil Service Commission v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers · 413 U.S. 548 (1973)
• American Party of Texas v. White · 415 U.S. 767 (1974)
• Talley v. California · 362 U.S. 60 (1960)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Shelton v. Tucker · 364 U.S. 479 (1960)
• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)
• Bullock v. Carter · 405 U.S. 134 (1972)
• Springer v. Government of Philippine Islands · 277 U.S. 189 (1928)
• Roth v. United States · 354 U.S. 476 (1957)
• Sweezy v. New Hampshire Ex Rel. Wyman · 354 U.S. 234 (1957)
• Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo · 418 U.S. 241 (1974)
• Kusper v. Pontikes · 414 U.S. 51 (1973)
• United States v. Germaine · 99 U.S. 508 (1879)
• Cousins v. Wigoda · 419 U.S. 477 (1975)
• United States v. Classic · 313 U.S. 299 (1941)
• United States v. Harriss · 347 U.S. 612 (1954)
• Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing · 330 U.S. 1 (1947)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• McCutcheon v. Federal Election Comm'n · 572 U.S. 185 (2014)
• Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. · 551 U.S. 449 (2007)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• McConnell v. Federal Election Commission · 540 U.S. 93 (2003)
• Brown v. Socialist Workers '74 Campaign Comm. (Ohio) · 459 U.S. 87 (1982)
• Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. Federal Election Commission · 518 U.S. 604 (1996)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• Davis v. Federal Election Commission · 554 U.S. 724 (2008)
• Federal Election Commission v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee · 533 U.S. 431 (2001)
• Federal Election Commission v. National Conservative Political Action Committee · 470 U.S. 480 (1985)
• Randall v. Sorrell · 548 U.S. 230 (2006)
• Citizens Against Rent Control/Coalition for Fair Housing v. City of Berkeley · 454 U.S. 290 (1981)
• Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce · 494 U.S. 652 (1990)
• California Medical Ass'n v. Federal Election Commission · 453 U.S. 182 (1981)
• Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, Inc. · 525 U.S. 182 (1999)
• Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc. · 479 U.S. 238 (1986)
• Elrod v. Burns · 427 U.S. 347 (1976)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission · 514 U.S. 334 (1995)
• Nixon v. Administrator of General Services · 433 U.S. 425 (1977)
• Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. Public Utilities Commission · 475 U.S. 1 (1986)
• Bowsher v. Synar · 478 U.S. 714 (1986)
• Freytag v. Commissioner · 501 U.S. 868 (1991)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• Abood v. Detroit Board of Education · 431 U.S. 209 (1977)
• Lucia v. SEC · 585 U.S. 237 (2018)
• Federal Election Comm'n v. Ted Cruz · 596 U.S. 289 (2022)
• Morrison v. Olson · 487 U.S. 654 (1988)
• Hynes v. Mayor and Council of Oradell · 425 U.S. 610 (1976)
• Weiss v. United States · 510 U.S. 163 (1994)

Official text

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).